Review of Stephen King’s Latest Novel – Lisey’s Story
Stephen King has been my number one storyteller ever since I read Carrie way back when I was 10 years old; to a large extent, it was Stephen King who switched me on to the world of books as I sat, wide eyed, reading a very grown up book. Carrie wasn’t his best novel, but it was his first, and my first, so to speak. Ever since then, I have spent hundreds of happy hours immersed in Stephen King’s stories. Sometimes, the stories have not been believable – but the storytelling has made them so, and it has always been the storytelling that switches things on for me, rather than the the story itself. For sure, the stories have been and are intriguing, but what I have relished is the voice, the narrator, the sensual language that creates such rich thoughts and feelings in my head. King’s characters, too, have been part of the rich tapestry of his fiction, but always the language, the attention to detail, the sense that I am not reading a book but listening to an old friend, bringing the characters to life, really feeling a sense of how King believes he uncovers a story rather than creates it.
I was quite surprised to read some of the reviews on Amazon of Lisey’s Story, finding a lot of readers disappointed. Personally I have never been disappointed with a King book, as I always come to them with an open mind, and respect a writer who doesn’t churn out fodder for the bestseller lists, but who writes from the heartmind. Every King book is going to be a little different, he tries new things which may or may not disappoint the constant reader, and in my opinion it usually works, and even his weaker works are way better than the best most writers can output. Ok, so you know I’m biased, but I loved this story, Lisey’s story…
King has tried his hand at pretty much every genre there is, and Lisey’s Story is essentially a love story – but a love story with Kingian twists, especially so as the love story is told from a posthumous perspective, therefore making it also a story of grief. Through Lisey Landon, widow of bestselling author Scott Landon, we learn of a marriage that has its highs and its lows, its beauties and its terrors, and there are many small touches that give our glimpse into the world of the marriage intimacy and reality. Yet the story is as much about the present as the past, and there is plenty going on in the widow Landon’s life to keep her occupied. As I read I felt that the story is as much a ghost story as it is a romance and a thriller – for Scott Landon, although two years deceased at the the start of the novel, has a presence through Lisey’s memory that makes him as much a central character as Lisey.
Lisey’s Story is not a thrill a minute roller coaster ride as some King novels can be, nor is it filled with gore and insane characters (although there are some!) But the novel is haunting, and progresses at a quiet, unhurried rate, and as always with King novels, I come to care about Lisey very quickly, for it is with the language and the beautiful storytelling that King manages to make his characters so real, so quickly – and this was another old tale by an old friend that I thoroughly enjoyed reading 